This past week a baby boy has been born to Joshua and Cailan. “Elias Stephen Matthews” weighed in at seven pounds, as you can see by the picture at the right. Joshua proudly spoke of his wife, Cailan, “Mom did extraordinarily well. Her doctor said she was the ‘model first pregnancy.’ Though the doctor did not spend a painful 24 hours in the hospital . . . (the next morning) An hour or so later, out he came! It was the bravest act I’ve ever witnessed, a testimony to Cailan’s perseverance and desire. She’s amazing.”
We rejoice with Joshua and Cailan and Elias, whom we have known in the Church fellowship. Our prayers are with them with thanksgiving. God does marvelous things. One is that union we have with one another in Christ, enabling us to rejoice together!
There are two families that a Christian belongs to, that of a particular home, and that of the Church universal. The similarity between these two families is that they are generational. In other words both families can be characterized by both past and future generations. The past generations reveal from whence we come. The future generations are seen as important and active in that what we do today will be a blessing or curse to our children and children’s children. The Bible teaches us of the faith of those who have gone on before us, thus encouraging us in our faith: “Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Heb. 12:1).
Another similarity between the two families is the joy we share as new-born children enter into our households. Jesus teaches us, “I say unto you there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents” (Luke 15:10). Jesus further teaches that this entrance into his Church is this, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). We also rejoice together as our Lord adds precious ‘newborn’ souls to his Church. We also rejoice as the Lord blesses our homes with the newborn baby who has been graciously nourished within the womb. The Church rejoices with this family, and the families rejoice with the Church. The blessings come from the present generation and will be felt by the next generations to come.
Grandpa always has many things to be thankful for.
We rejoice with Joshua and Cailan and Elias, whom we have known in the Church fellowship. Our prayers are with them with thanksgiving. God does marvelous things. One is that union we have with one another in Christ, enabling us to rejoice together!
There are two families that a Christian belongs to, that of a particular home, and that of the Church universal. The similarity between these two families is that they are generational. In other words both families can be characterized by both past and future generations. The past generations reveal from whence we come. The future generations are seen as important and active in that what we do today will be a blessing or curse to our children and children’s children. The Bible teaches us of the faith of those who have gone on before us, thus encouraging us in our faith: “Wherefore seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Heb. 12:1).
Another similarity between the two families is the joy we share as new-born children enter into our households. Jesus teaches us, “I say unto you there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents” (Luke 15:10). Jesus further teaches that this entrance into his Church is this, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). We also rejoice together as our Lord adds precious ‘newborn’ souls to his Church. We also rejoice as the Lord blesses our homes with the newborn baby who has been graciously nourished within the womb. The Church rejoices with this family, and the families rejoice with the Church. The blessings come from the present generation and will be felt by the next generations to come.
Grandpa always has many things to be thankful for.
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